The Civic Center Residents Coalition was formed shortly after the attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001 to address street shutdowns including Park Row, rerouting of MTA bus routes and rampant government permit placard abuse. C.C.R.C. is comprised of residential complexes Chatham Green, Chatham Towers, Southbridge Towers and Chinatown area local businesses and residents.
janccrc@gmail.com

Sunday, January 31, 2010

Security Blanket for New York - with a few holes in it.

Not Know How!Terror Trials’ Security Blanket Full of Holes, Thousands of ‘em!

If the terror trials take place in lower Manhattan as planned, there is absolutely no way Ray Kelly can guarantee our safety. It’s impossible. Why? Because there are currently thousands of false parking placards used everyday in our town, especially in lower Manhattan near the federal court buildings. In a recent meeting with Chinatown leaders Commissioner Kelly pointed that THERE WILL BE NO PRIVATE Cars allowed in the soft zone perimeter - "only government and NYPD vehicles" .

That suspicious white van at Times Square, ignored for two whole days because of a fake parking placard, exposed a gaping hole in the NYPD security blanket. This hole would only get larger with the terror trials located in lower Manhattan. Commissioner Kelly acknowledged: "There's no question, we should've known about it earlier." Well, earlier would have been impossible because enforcement officers on the street are instructed to give placarded parked cars a pass.

At this time the Feds have not taken lower Manhattan off the table as a location for the trials. It also seems they have not taken the fake parking placard/car bomb threat seriously because this threat is not even mentioned in the media at large. Excuse me, but shoving this placarded car bomb threat under the rug does not make it go away!

For years post 9/11, a time of extreme heightened security, the number of placarded cars increased many times at great cost to the local communities’ economy and quality of life. Planning to locate the terror trials in lower Manhattan federal court portends a devastating repeat of the same – only this time with the additional threat of placarded terrorist car bombs exploding in and around our neighborhood!

Federal Courts unsecurable for terror trials in lower Manhattan - Just like post 9/11, securing the area entails a multitude of government employee vehicles using parking permits everyday (and let’s not forget the dozens of press vehicles that would also be present on a daily basis). The federal court vicinity and bordering neighborhoods would become a magnet for a huge number of placarded vehicles - each one of which could be a car bomb.

Obviously, the threat of placarded car bombs would not exist elsewhere on Governor's Island or any similar location where access to vehicle parking is exclusively controlled. The sooner the Feds realize this car bomb threat isunsecurable, the safer we all will be. Get the trials outta here to a place that can actually be secured!